Spending Growth Powers 21% Jump in 2Q Profits at MasterCard

MasterCard (NYSE:MA) easily beat the Street on Wednesday with a 21% jump in second-quarter profits as the card giant capitalized on across-the-board spending growth.

The stronger-than-anticipated results helped drive MasterCard’s stock almost 4% higher in premarket trading, putting it on track to set fresh all-time highs.

The company said it earned $848 million, or $6.96 a share, last quarter, compared with $700 million, or $5.55 a share, a year earlier. Analysts had been calling for EPS of just $6.30.

Revenue rose 15.2% to $2.1 billion, topping the Street’s view of $2 billion.

MasterCard reported an 11% jump in processed transactions to 9.5 billion and said its cross-border volume climbed 17%.

Gross dollar volume, measured on a local currency basis, soared 13% to just over $1 trillion.

The growth in spending outpaced higher expenses, which increased 5% to $868 million during the second quarter.

“We had a very good second quarter supported by increases in volume and transactions in all regions of the world despite slow economic growth globally,” MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga said in a statement.

MasterCard said it repurchased about 1.1 million Class A common shares during the second quarter at a cost of about $581 million. Through July 25, the company said it bought back an additional $174 million during the third quarter, leaving about $1.1 billion left on its current buyback authorization.

Shares of Purchase, N.Y.-based MasterCard climbed 3.51% to $622.50 ahead of Wednesday’s opening bell. MasterCard has jumped 22% so far this year and almost 38% over the past 12 months.